Dave and Lillian Brummet offer tips, interviews and resources to inspire hope in individuals; helping them realize the value of their efforts, encouraging them to become more positive, proactive in life.

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Friday, October 16, 2015

Product review

-- Product Review --

While I rarely do
book reviews anymore (I was a professional book reviewer for 7-8 years,
reviewing an average of 500 books a year in many genres from young children to
novels and non-fiction), I could not resist MX Publishing’s invitation to
review 5 different books in the Sherlock Holmes genre.

No Better Place: Arthur Conan Doyle,
Windlesham and Communication with the Other Side

The Final Problem – a Sherlock Holmes
Graphic Novel

These books were delivered
to my doorstep August 11th or so in an appropriate sized cardboard
shipping box, with no additional or unnecessary packaging -which is great for
the environment.

I have been reviewing each book
separately, one at a time, and you will find that I hyperlink the titles of the books I’ve already
done in the list above. The next book I will review in the list is: The Final Problem – a
Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novel. The book won the Fabula Rasa Czech award for
the best screenplay, the best artwork and the best comic book of 2013… and deservedly
so. The book was translated to English by P&J Simpson.

I truly enjoyed
reading this book – the art is really quite striking and yet humorous without
taking away from the story-line… which I won’t tell you about as I don’t want to
spoil it for you! I will tell you, however, that this book is part of a series
of 8 graphic novels in the author’s Victora
Regina series.

This artistic book
was created by Petr Kopl – a caring author and accomplished artist who ended
the book with a brief explanation of the reasons behind his creation of the
book, a bit of history of the famous story the book (and original author: Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle) is based on and some interesting data that readers new
to Petr Kopl would certainly find interesting. Petr enticed his regular
listeners to search for a few characters he had created in other publications
in the scenes created for this book. He also poses a few mysteries for the
readers to solve for themselves – which had me going back and reading the book
a second time just to solve the mysteries. I feel comfortable stating this book
will find a secure resting spot on our book shelves for the near future.

Learn more about this
accomplished artist/author at: www.PetrKopl.cz,
in fact if you visit the site you’ll find more features about this book, and
learn how you might become a character in one of his upcoming projects!

This paperback is about 200
pages, weighs roughly 8.6 oz. and measures approximately 5.8 x .4 x 8.3 inches.
You can find it on Amazon.com for $16.95 (US); alternatively visit
Amazon.ca where you can purchase the book for $22.48 (CDN)

The publisher - MXPublishing - is the world’s largest specialist Sherlock Holmes publisher, with
over a hundred and fifty titles and eighty authors creating the latest in
Sherlock Holmes fiction and non-fiction. MX Publishing also has one of the
largest communities of Holmes fans on Facebook with regular contributions from
dozens of authors. Interestingly, MX titles are licensed around the world
including Japan, China, India, Russia, Italy, Spain, and Poland – and many of
their books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. The company
itself is based in London, UK. Sadly, I could not
find any information about the publishing company regarding environmental
responsibility, in-house purchasing, or printing policies (i.e. SFI certified
paper, veggie inks, acid/bleach free paper, etc.). However they do support
social causes – for instance they have a group of authors who are donating the royalties
to the restoration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's former home, Undershaw. The building was in terrible
disrepair and was saved from destruction by the Undershaw Preservation Trust (patron Mark Gatiss;
http://www.saveundershaw.com). Today the building has been bought by Stepping Stones (a school for
children with learning difficulties) and is being lovingly restored to its
former glory. Steve Emez, MX’x Managing Director, also is very involved with
charitable causes and has done many awareness campaigns via his skills with
swimming. Find out more about this company via:https://www.facebook.com/MXPublishing